PATIENTS at a Wirral hospital are to get more freedom - thanks to special pagers.

The initiative at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology gives vibrating and bleeping pagers to patients.

It is available for patients at the leading cancer treatment centre who want the freedom to go for a walk or have a cup of coffee whilst waiting for their name to be called for an appointment and gives them an alternative to sitting in the designated waiting area.

On request, receptionists can now take patient details and issue a small plastic baton, which is their pager.

Ward manager at Delamere chemotherapy unit, Carol Gregson said: "The pagers are straightforward for both staff and patients to use and are proving extremely popular.

"We're still treating the same numbers of patients, but the waiting area is now a lot quieter as people have greater flexibility to wander around the hospital and surrounding grounds.

"Patients are arriving for appointments in a much more relaxed frame of mind, as they've had the opportunity to get some fresh air, sit out in our gardens, rest in the patient lounge and enjoy a hot meal or a cup of coffee from the hospital restaurant."

The baton buzzes, bleeps and flashes to attract attention when the doctor or nurse is ready to see the patient, because sometimes patients arriving for treatment at the hospital have a wait between seeing their consultant, having their blood counts checked and starting chemotherapy treatment.

The pager has been designed to be suitable for people who are deaf or visually impaired and even includes a special alarm system that activates when a pager is lost to attract attention.

A total of 40 pagers are now in use at the centre. They are being trialled in the outpatients department and on the Delamere day ward, where patients go for chemotherapy.

The system cost £5000 to install and was made possible thanks to charitable funding.

The Wirral-based Trust, which provides specialist radiotherapy and chemotherapy services, and delivers more than 112,000 treatments to patients from across the North West every year, is believed to be among only a handful of hospitals in the region making use of the technology.